Sterilizing apparatus.



F. e. KEYES. STERILIZING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 1} I913.

Patented A11 7, 1917.

qvi'tneooeo may be applied but other resu ts bUNITED STATES PATENT oFmoE.

EREnERIcx a. name, 0F BOSTON, mAssAcnusETTs, AssIon' R To cOorER HEWITT ELEcT Ic comm, OE HOEOKEN, NEw JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERsEY.

STERILIZmG APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK G. KEYES, a citizen of the Uni-ted States, and resident of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sterilizing Apparatus, of which -the following is a specification.

In a companion application executed on the same date herewith, I have shown and described an invention relating to the treating of liquid by exposure to a suitable active influence for sterilization or other purposes. As a source of the active influence, I have therein shown a mercury vapor apparatus comprising a quartz container hermetically sealed and electrodes therein joined to suitable leading in wires, whereby, in operation, ultra-violet radiation is produced.

The special object sought to be obtained by the apparatus of the companion application is that of securing a thin uniform layer of suitable material which is to be exposed to the action of ultra-violet radiation supplied through walls of the source. In the present instance I attain the desired uniformity and thinness of liquid material by utilizing as a surface along which the liquid, such as milk, is allowed to pass while exposed to the rays from the source, a sheet or screen of auze or fabric, usually of fibrous materia the same being either suspended from or supported upon a metallic or other surface. The liquid to be sterilized or otherwise afi'ected drops down over this screen and is separated into uniform layers as it passes downward, said layers being sufiiciently thin to admit the complete ster ilization of the liquid or, in the case of' certain other materials, say the bleaching or partial oxidation of Oil, as the case may .be. From this it appears that sterilization is not the sole object to which m apparatus aimed at may be attained according as they are apropriate to the properties of the liquid to he treated. a

I show such a screen as I have described in the accompan ing drawing.

Referring to t e accompanying drawing,

the part 1 is a screen suspended by means n Specification of Letters Patent. Application illed Jul 1,1913. Serial No. 776,757.

:prisinga gauze Patented Aug. a, 1917.

might, in case milk, for example, was the liquid allowed to pass over it, have to be removed after every use and replaced by a fresh piece.

The liquid to be treated is admitted through a tube 7, through which pass at intervals drips, 8, 8, sub ect to regulation by mill-heads 9, 9. By the proper manipulation of the mill-heads, the amount of liquid passing through each drip is regu-' lated until all become adapted to furnish a practically uniform supply which then falls upon the upper edge of the gauze 1, whence it passes downward by gravity into a trough 10 and passes out through an outlet 11 into a jar or other rece tacle 12. During this passage the liquid 1s subject to the efi'ects of radiation from the quartz lamp or tube 2, and when it passes into the jar 12 it is in a sterilized or otherwise altered condition.

When the gauze fabric is made of fibrous material, -'t is evident that the mesh of said material nay be so chosen as to act in cooperation with gravity in the nature of a sponge, attracting the liquid uniformly through the region occupied by the fabric.

I claim as my invention:

1. A sterilizing apparatus comprisin a gauze screen supported to hang in a vertical plane, means for distributing the liquid to be sterilized to the to of the gauze, a trough for cooling the steriiized liquid at the bottom, and a source of ultra-violet radiation in proximity to the gauze.

2. A sterilizing apparatus for liquids comabrlc supported to hang in a vertical plane, means for distributing the liquid to be sterilized to the to of'the fabric, and a source of ultra-vio et radiation in proximity to the fabric.

3. In a sterilizing apparatus for liquids, Signed at New York inth e county of New a source of ultra-violet radiation, a gauze York and State of New York this 27th day fabric of fibrous material su ported to hang of June A'. D. 1913. in a vertical lane, means or distributing 1 FREDERICKG. KEYES.

, the liquid to e sterilized t0 the top of the Witnesses:

said fabric, the meshes of the gauze fabric WM. H. GAPEL, being close together. i Tnos. H. BnowN. 

